Sheila gifts Delhiites petrol price cut, but...

With the Sheila Dikshit government announcing a 20 per cent exemption on Value Added Tax (VAT), petrol prices in the Capital have come down by Rs 1.26/litre. Following the cut in prices, petrol will now be available to Delhiites for Rs 71.93/litre.

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While the diminution is quite marginal, Delhi has joined the league of Congress-ruled states — Kerala and Uttarakhand — that have taken measures to provide relief to commoners. Petrol price in the Capital is lower than the rates in other metropolitan cities.

In another temporary relief to the aam aadmi, Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy said that diesel and LPG prices would not be hiked for the moment. “We are not considering increasing the prices of diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene.

It is out of the question right now,” he said, thereby putting an ending to the speculations about the hike in prices of other fuels too. Reddy also said that no dates had been fixed yet to convene a meeting of a ministerial panel to decide on revising rates of diesel, LPG and kerosene.

Good job! The Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government in the Capital has decided to forgo Rs 1.26 on petrol, which was the VAT on a hike of Rs 6.28. File pic

“No date has been fixed for Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) meeting on diesel price deregulation,” he said, after an inter-ministerial meeting on inflation called by the finance minister.

However, before Delhiites could rejoice, Dikshit, who also holds the finance portfolio, proposed to levy five per cent VAT on CNG, which is currently being sold at Rs 35.45/kg.

The move may result to increase in auto and bus fares. Also, prices of other essential commodities may rise as commercial transport within the city runs on clean fuel.